Dogs and new baby

[samnorthy]

I am after some advice/guidance with preparing our two cocker spaniels (Mav -2 years male and Charlie 18 months old female) for the addition of a newborn - my wife is now 13 weeks pregnant.

Behaviour:
The two of them are generally well behaved, although Charlie can be a bit excitable & jumpy with my wife. Charlie can is also attention seeking, my wife is dialing down the attention and ignoring her demands (generally getting in your way after a stroke).
At the moment they have free reign over the house with only our bed being off limits, we are about to start to make the room that will become the nursery off-limits.
We have read some guides detailing how to introduce the new family member, but what other training commands do you think would be worth training them into in the next few months before then?

Sleeping arrangements:
Currently the two pups sleep in our bed room in separate crates, I would like to move them out but previous attempts to do this have resulted in a week of sleepless nights before we gave in and brought them back into our room. Any ideas how best to get the tow of them to happily sleep outside our bedroom?

Thanks

[Chris77]

I'm no expert at all and I'm sure others will have better advice, but when our boys were born we had home births with both, Ozzy our westie was introduced to both within minutes of them being born and we did it in a very positive way, think we even gave him a new toy as if from the baby both times. We were (and still are) very conscious to keep him involved and not just shut him away from the kids, as a result he is protective and caring to them, but we also let him have his own space if he wants it and are educating the boys in how to understand when he does and doesn't want their attention.

Hope all goes well for you.

[One MoreDonkey]

You think a week of sleepless nights was hard from a whining dog, then you will have your work cut out with a baby.

Seriously, move the dogs out of your bedroom and down stairs. They will cope, even if you do it gradual by moving the crates further and further away until they are out of the room, on the landing and downstairs.

also invest in some Pet Remedy, either in diffuser or spray form. It will help relax the dogs whilst that transition is taking place.

Out of interest, where do the dogs sleep / left, when you go out and assuming they are well behaved when left alone at home on their own?

[rambo19]

IME, slowly and surely.

Dogs will treat new baby as the newest member of the pack and be protective.
As with all dogs, never leave them alone with the baby.

[Prof Prolapse]

I'm not sure about this whole "pack" thing, our dog was never really was that interested in the baby. He came over and gave him a good sniff when he was born, that was about it. He's maintained ambivalence for nearly two years now. I'm not of the opinion dogs should be protective of infants.

The only additional training we did was teach the dog to wait at the top of the stairs until he was signaled to come down. This meant the large excitable dog didn't knock over my pregnant wife as they went up and down the stairs. The same is the case when we're carrying our son up and down them. It's worth doing if you can.

Now after a year and half our dog/child interaction is still quite limited owing to their similar state of indifference to one another punctuated by independently running around like lunatics. I spend more time trying to teach my son about how to be gentle with the animals, and stay away from them whilst they eat, than the reverse. The dog is very good, but obviously he is still an animal, and can get scared when a screaming toddler tries to grab at his face. That's the reason we never leave them alone.

I supervise my son whilst he feeds the dog, and occasionally brings him treats and pets him to build a relationship. It's a slow process however, we don't rush either of them.

[IanCress]

Prof Prolapse said:

I'm not sure about this whole "pack" thing, our dog was never really was that interested in the baby. He came over and gave him a good sniff when he was born, that was about it. He's maintained ambivalence for nearly two years now. I'm not of the opinion dogs should be protective of infants.

This is what we've found. My daughter is 8 months old now and the dog really isn't interested in her at all. Has a sniff every now again but otherwise keeps his distance.
It's quite funny really, as she loves him and gets excited every time he comes close, but he couldn't care less!

[samnorthy]

Thanks for the advice, we will start to edge the crates slowly out of the bedroom onto the landing and see how we go.

I like the idea of the Pet Remedy, we've not used that before but will give it ago.

[One MoreDonkey]

My neighbours use Pet Remedy for their rescue dog that gets rather vocal when left on his own. He's now very relaxed and we don't hear a peep out of him (unless someone knocks their door). It's worked wonders.

[Hoolio]

Before we had children, the dogs pretty much had the run of the place, allowed on the sofas etc. We trained them with food not to go on the sofas over a couple of weeks and they haven't been on since.

When you bring your new baby home for the first time bring home a dirty nappy too. Put it on the floor and let the dogs sniff it, they won't bother him / her from then onwards. We did this with our Bull Terriers and it worked a treat.

Can't help with the sleeping i'm afraid, ours have always slept downstairs.

Good luck!

[bakerstreet]

IanCress said:

This is what we've found. My daughter is 8 months old now and the dog really isn't interested in her at all. Has a sniff every now again but otherwise keeps his distance.
It's quite funny really, as she loves him and gets excited every time he comes close, but he couldn't care less!

I can assure you the interest level will go up when the child becomes mobile.

[bakerstreet]

samnorthy said:

I am after some advice/guidance with preparing our two cocker spaniels (Mav -2 years male and Charlie 18 months old female) for the addition of a newborn - my wife is now 13 weeks pregnant.

Behaviour:
The two of them are generally well behaved, although Charlie can be a bit excitable & jumpy with my wife. Charlie can is also attention seeking, my wife is dialing down the attention and ignoring her demands (generally getting in your way after a stroke).
At the moment they have free reign over the house with only our bed being off limits, we are about to start to make the room that will become the nursery off-limits.
We have read some guides detailing how to introduce the new family member, but what other training commands do you think would be worth training them into in the next few months before then?

Sleeping arrangements:
Currently the two pups sleep in our bed room in separate crates, I would like to move them out but previous attempts to do this have resulted in a week of sleepless nights before we gave in and brought them back into our room. Any ideas how best to get the tow of them to happily sleep outside our bedroom?

Thanks

Are the crates locked when they sleep in your bedroom. If they, I see no reason why the dogs can't stay in there when the new baby arrives.

Also, your sleepless nights with two dogs are small fry compared to what a new born and beyond is like. Ours is 2 and a month a old and is still a nightmare at night